[SNK]

"Here's the primary fact that the blogger in question doesn't understand: the Tesla battery pack is not a battery."

Gee, where might he have gotten that idea? Tesla's website and documentation, perhaps? "Custom microprocessor-controlled lithium-ion battery with 6,831 individual cells."

Not 8K, huh; talk about getting your technical facts wrong.

"Another error on the part of the blogger is the claim that if the cars discharge fully, the battery packs will be damaged. This is blatantly false. The battery management system of the Tesla Roadster keeps the battery from being discharged to a damagingly low state of charge under normal driving conditions. It's true that a full discharge to zero percent state of charge can potentially be damaging to a battery. However the battery management system of the Roadster won't allow the car to reach that low level of charge."

Just asserted it was blatantly false and admitted it was true that full discharge damages the battery in the same paragraph, hoo boy.

"But there's an antidote for this type of misinformation: confronting it with facts."

Looks more like he meant to say that the antidote for these facts is misinformation, yow.

[stewartbutler]

> Just asserted it was blatantly false and admitted it was true that full discharge damages the battery in the same paragraph, hoo boy.

No. He stated that, while discharging an individual cell below a certain voltage will damage it, the battery management circuitry on each cell will not permit the battery to discharge past that point. It simply disconnects the battery from the circuit, which means the only leakage is chemical (self-discharge), and thus very slow.

To clarify this point: "discharge fully" =/= zero percent. You will never want to go below a certain percentage of absolute charge.

[SNK]

"Another error on the part of the blogger is the claim that if the cars discharge fully, the battery packs will be damaged. This is blatantly false."

"It's true that a full discharge to zero percent state of charge can potentially be damaging to a battery."

[vacri]

This blogger is wrong. A 'battery' is a collection of cells. The Tesla site is correct in stating that. Like 'battery hens' (many hens) or an artillery battery (group of artillery), a 'battery' means collection of power cells. Yes, common usage has made it also mean a single power cell - but this doesn't mean that the technical term is not correct.

[ars]

The word battery doesn't mean that. It means to beat and batter. Which is what artillery does.

The electrical meaning came much later, possibly from the electron discharges which looked like artillery attacks.

I have no idea where battery cage came from. The original battery cages were warmed with electricity - maybe an actual battery?